Business Marketing Newswire

Archive for November, 2009

GERMANY – On September 1st 2009 the new direct mail opt-in law goes into effect in Germany.  This new law has caused the entire European marketing and data industries to become concerned – similar laws could soon come to the UK. Although the new changes don’t prevent direct mail marketing literature from being sent to potential customers, it will nevertheless restrict businesses from sending it out to the same mass audiences as they have been used to.

The Debate Has Begun

This new law has no effect on direct marketing in the UK currently. Still, debates have begun on websites which discuss whether or not it is a foregone conclusion that all email and direct mail will soon be required to conform to a stricter opt-in policy than is currently enforced. We’d like to contribute to the debate by offering a few points on this issue.

According to UTalkMarketing.com, one person in the marketing and data field, Peter McCormick, co founder and general manager of ExactTarget, feels that the new law is of no concern to organizations whose communications philosophy has the customer at heart. He feels that by having stricter opt-in laws marketers would be guaranteed to only contact warm prospects who were interested in their products and therefore would be more likely to respond.

Cost is a Built-In Incentive For Mailing List Accuracy

While it is generally true that most people don’t want to be flooded with unwanted ‘junk mail’ there is the general idea that out of quantity comes quality. Let’s face it, businesses do have an incentive to use quality mailing lists when sending out direct mail. Each piece costs money and too many dups and too many duds can hammer your ROI. By using an accurate mailing list marketers already have a built-in incentive to make sure their marketing dollar is not wasted.

Direct Mail to Cold Prospects Reaches New Customers

Another point in favor of mass mailing is that without reaching brand new cold contacts, there is no expansion or reach into new territory. Direct mail to cold prospects is an effective way to reach brand new customers who would otherwise not be mailed to if businesses were to only send mailings to ‘warm’ prospects.

Businesses Are Already Required To Remove Names From Mailing Lists

Still, if some prospects absolutely object to receiving unsolicited direct mail, then it would most likely be a waste of money to send a mass mailing to them anyway because they would find it so objectionable that it is unlikely that they would respond to an offer. Most businesses who have any direct mail experience at all have received requests to be removed from future mailings and Postal regulations are already in effect that require this. So it works both ways – the customer is happy and the marketer is happy.

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Small Business Marketing Health Check

OTTAWA, CANADA – In a recent survey conducted by Campaigner.com it was shown that many small business owners are seeing the beginnings of a turnaround in the current economic climate and expect revenue growth. Even though the recession has been a challenge for businesses of all sizes, small business who rise to the challenge and increase their spending on effective marketing actually expect an increase in revenue.

The report is entitled, Small Business Marketing Health Check and is available as a free download in PDF format from the campaigner.com website: http://www.campaigner.com/lp/hurwitz.aspx.

A total of 46% of respondents to the survey said that they anticipate an increase in revenue growth while a total of 32% said that they expect a decline in revenue and 22% expect revenues to remain more or less flat.

The report shows that:

Of the 46% of small businesses who anticipate revenue growth:

• 32% of them expect an increase in revenue of more than 10%
• 14% of them expect an increase in revenue of less than 10%

Of the 32% of small businesses who anticipate revenue decline:

• 14% of them expect a decrease in revenue of less than 10%
• 18% of them expect a decrease in revenue of more than 10%

The report also shows a correlation of revenue growth with marketing spending:

• 65% of small businesses expect revenue growth if they either spend more or plan to spend more on marketing.
• 32% percent of small businesses expect no increase or decrease in revenue if there is no change in their marketing expenditures.
• 36% percent of small businesses expect a decrease in revenue if they spend less on marketing.

The report gets into more detail about how small business are positioning themselves in the marketing arena. They are positioning themselves stronger growth in 2010 through the use of web-based marketing tools. Small businesses are shifting more of their marketing efforts from traditional media to Web-based options.

Email marketing, when used in combination with social media (Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, blogs and discussion boards) are growing in popularity and effectiveness. These new marketing tools are generally less expensive to use than traditional marketing initiatives (print advertising, direct mail and mailing lists).

A small investment can help a small business to significantly boost their marketing reach and return. With both email marketing and social networking on the rise, companies should consider how they can integrate the more impromptu nature of social media with more structured nature of email marketing campaigns. the value of both methods can be significantly increased with intelligent and well planned integration.

Mailing Lists Direct is a full service direct mail list company where you can find consumer mailing lists, business lists and specialty lists at competitive prices. Mailing Lists Direct provides first rate customer support. No matter what your business needs in the way of an address list or managing your mailing list campaigns, Mailing Lists Direct will be able to satisfy all your needs. Call toll free at 800-741-0116.